Look, I don't pretend to be an expert here but I've dabbled in learning some other languages, most recently spanish. One thing that keeps coming up is how eco

Look, I don't pretend to be an expert here but I've dabbled in learning some other languages, most recently spanish. One thing that keeps coming up is how economical English seems to be compared to at least the other languages I've encountered. By "economical" I mean in terms of syllables. This seems to be a particularly useful property when it comes rhyming and lyrics and the like. A few examples from Spanish: nosotros/nosotras = we demasiado = too bastante = quite primavera = spring verano = summer invierno = winter bebemos = (we) drink Also, as seems to be common in western European languages (other than English) is that more articles are required. Also, English fits the German pattern (being of that family linguistically speaking, this is unsurprising) of appending nouns together to form new words. In English these are separated by spaces still. In German they are not but it is the same construct/idea. So English: Independence Day Spanish: El dia de la independencia Now this is more complicated because the verb forms in Spanish tend to be so distinct you can drop the subject eg (Yo) estoy tarde (I am late). But still "estoy" is two syllables compared to one in English ("am"). Also, some pronouns are so indistinct that they need to be qualified (eg with "a usted" or "a ella"). I'm by no means a linguistics expert so can't say what affect this has on, say, the speed of information transfer (which I expect is _roughly_ the same across languages but variances probably exist) or on poetry, songs or even puns. But I find it interesting. Another point: what people find funny, even with those that have the same native tongue, varies culturally. There have been studies on this. For example, Americans tend to prefer humour where people get hurt (ostensibly) and just slapstick in general. This seems to explain things like The Three Stooges. Speaking as an Australian, I've never understood the appeal. But as an Australian, our humour is much closer to English humour. Again, I make no claims about English compared to other languages.